Contributed by: AubinAubin(others by this writer | submit your own)Published on September 12th 2006I've been harder on the Mars Volta than most. Much of that stems from frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala's confession that he split up At the Drive-In because he felt "punk" and "hardcore" were too limiting. That kind of thing smacks of condescension to a scene which he both contributed and took from, an.

I've been harder on the Mars Volta than most. Much of that stems from frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala's confession that he split up At the Drive-In because he felt "punk" and "hardcore" were too limiting. That kind of thing smacks of condescension to a scene which he both contributed and took from, and as a result, I couldn't help but take things personally. It wasn't until later that I gave De-Loused a fair listen and realized the strength of the songwriting, performances and its own particular charms.

However, the sophomore full-length, Frances the Mute presented its own share of challenges. The album spent too much time indulging composer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's love of soundscape and collage, resulting in many aimless moments that strained patience rather than pushing boundaries. While it did carry some of the band's finest performances, particularly from the band's consistently incredible vocalist, it often felt like the band had been struggling to fill the CD's 76-minute running time, and for no good reason. While not a failure by any measure, it was a disappointment compared to the finely focused intensity of the debut.

With Amputechture, the band has handily addressed that complaint, producing a solid 76 minutes of actual music, and perhaps their most dynamically diverse performance since De-Loused. The album also sees a reduction in the dependence on concept, with Cedric's lyrics following more of a thematic arc than following a single storyline. The resulting lyrics enabled him to tackle a broader range of topics, though all filtered through the recurring theme of the effects of religion in the world.

"Vicarious Atonement" begins the album slowly, with Bixler-Zavala matching his vocals to Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante's heavily processed guitars. The track maintains a leisurely pace before breaking apart in a brief moment of John Zorn-like horn madness before hitting one of three ten-minute plus tracks. The track delineation is somewhat loose here, even more so than on Frances the Mute where each track is seamlessly blended with the preceding one. With "Teragrammation," Cedric actually takes advantage of his stunning voice, effortlessly hopping through octaves and providing a more than capable foil to both the guitars and horns which accompany him. At more than sixteen minutes, the track is a marvel of cacophonous madness which gradually reveals its own twisted purpose with repeated listens.

The album's first single, "Viscera Eyes" is remarkably accessible even at more than nine minutes. Driven by an aggressive burst of riffing, it acts not just as the most economical song the band has produced, but provides a fine link back to At the Drive-In's later era. "Day of the Baphomets" is similarly driven, with the band's beloved Latin drums bolstered by raucous horns and plenty of aggressive tempos that owe as much to Fugazi as they do to Mr.Bungle's second album.

Amputechture does suffer from one crucial flaw however, and one made ever more acute by the ever increasing scope of the band's output: The band has become far too comfortable with performing "prog rock" as a genre, rather than progressive rock as an ideal. In many ways, the band is falling into the same pits that befell their predecessors; there are dazzling displays of guitar technique, truly warped time signatures and unique sounds throughout, but these rarely do more than serve as interesting little accents. Much of the strength of the album comes from the conventional: melody, rhythm and lyrics. The risk, and this clearly affected Frances, is losing sight of these, as the band does on the album's closing track "El Ciervo Vulnerado," which seems far too fascinated with the sound of the sitar rather than any musical possibilities it might offer.

The greater freedom granted by the band's eschewing of grandiose concepts has resulting in some of the band's most diverse and nuanced performances. Cedric is often the star of the record, with a truly dynamic, multi-faceted vocal performance that often surpasses the veritable orchestra behind him. The greater success has also afforded the band this same stable of musicians who are usually, but not always put to good use. Like the break-up of their previous band forced them to reevaluate their sound and compositions, the Mars Volta needs a similar jolt before their next record, lest they succumb to the pressures of being a better than average example of "prog" rather than truly progressive.

Fans of punk music don't throw out the red carpet to a prog-fusion band? This me displaying mock horror.

Seriously folks, this is like trying to debut a Slayer album at a baptist church. This album is fantastic. This album is awful. You're both right. Music is subjective, twats.

I'll willing to bet most of the Volta fans rushing here to defend Amputechture think punk is Blink 182. It's also fairly obvious that almost no one bashing this record has even the slightest inclination to attempt to digest it in the first place. Both sides sound awfully silly.

It is what it is, right? Your capacity to enjoy music as an art form is only limited by personal taste. No one's going to deny that the Mars Volta is a band that turns instruments into giant cocks, leaving their man-juice all over your blistered eardrums. Conversely, most punk doesn't exactly take more than 16 seconds to fully digest.

You're both right, you're both wrong. Everyone can go back to watching porn now.

seriously.
you little kids out there that sit and make these dumb comments.
the mars volta is filled with talent, this album is really something to listen to. cedrics lyrics are amazing and make me want to listen to it over and over, just think about what he writes, its amazing, its alot better than some of this one string breakdown ballad shit.
seriously have a fuckin sit down and listen.
just sit, relax, and listen.
jesus people.

Anonymous (September 16, 2006)

Scruffy: I'm sorry I didn't mean to say unintelligent, I was just angry at reading all the posts and I was being immature. I apologize for that.

I just think it's ignorant to say that the Mars Volta "suck" because they are trying to be innovative and different such as all of their 70s progressive contemporaries (such as King Crimson, Yes, Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf Generator, as I was saying before.) At least RESPECT the music for what it is. If it is noise to you, so be it.

What is noise to one is a masterpiece to another. I've learned that from my inability to listen to most hardcore music. I don't like it, but that absolutely doesn't mean that it "sucks."

"Conclusion: Obviously punk fans (being one of the easiest genres to listen to, and one of the simplest to play, most of the time) are not intelligent enough to listen to this album, or anything that has been progressive (Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf Generator, ect.)"

So, in effect, you're calling ME stupid while simultaneously singing the praises of Yes and King Crimson.
And Green Giant? C'mon! Just because pot makes it sound good doesn't mean it is.
I guess by "easiest to listen to", you mean that you don't have to TRY to enjoy yourself when listening to punk.

"As someone that mainly listens to talented musicians and composers the Mars volta is one of the modern bands that I actually find respect for in trying new ideas. If you don't hear the new ideas on Amputechture compared to "Deloused" I don't know what your hearing. Deloused is way too ammaturish when compared to Amputechture.

Conclusion: Obviously punk fans (being one of the easiest genres to listen to, and one of the simplest to play, most of the time) are not intelligent enough to listen to this album, or anything that has been progressive (Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf Generator, ect.)"

I can't believe you're arrogant enough to think that even works well as flamebait.

Oh well.

Anonymous (September 15, 2006)

The cover kind of looks like 2 dudes carrying a big penis, which since I'm flamming gay, makes me pitch a huge tent, than I jerk off and shoot my HIV load all over pictures of Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco.

Anonymous (September 15, 2006)

As someone that mainly listens to talented musicians and composers the Mars volta is one of the modern bands that I actually find respect for in trying new ideas. If you don't hear the new ideas on Amputechture compared to "Deloused" I don't know what your hearing. Deloused is way too ammaturish when compared to Amputechture.

Conclusion: Obviously punk fans (being one of the easiest genres to listen to, and one of the simplest to play, most of the time) are not intelligent enough to listen to this album, or anything that has been progressive (Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf Generator, ect.)

I haven't listened to this album nor will I, but I feel the review of this record that SomethingAwful did is worth mentioning. Behold the introduction to quite possibly one of the best album reviews ever written:

"The Mars Volta‚??s third studio album, Amputecture, is set to be released next week. The title is a combination of the words 'amputation' and 'architecture.' Personally, I would have called it 'Unbearaborrible.'"

I don't have the patience to listen to this album, but your review was very informative, it told me everything that I needed to know (like i need to just keep listening to At The Drive-In) good job Aubin, I guess that's why you run this site. Score = review

aubin - great review. have the same feelings regarding the previous two albums.while frances had its moments the cd could have been cut in half. de-loused however is very very good in my opinion. i have a feeling they left a lot of the soundscape behind on frances and went for the more melody driven de-loused on this one.

i dont care much for the mars volta....even if atdi was from my hometown.....i just nod my head and pretend i care so i dont have the "what you dont love the mars volta" conversation with people.

Anonymous (September 13, 2006)

James Joyce is sweet though.

Anonymous (September 13, 2006)

You cant really compare todays underground "punk" scene to how it was when ATDI disbanded. i think punk rock has majorly progress since then, and in alot of ways it probably was limiting to some people. maybe if he would have just stuck it out and explored his ideas through ATDI, im sure most of their fans would have accepted it. i mean, ATDI wasnt ever your typical "hardcore" or "punk" band...

Anonymous (September 13, 2006)

"I've put off listening to this on downloads. I feel I get the best experience from a Mars Volta by laying in my bed w/ the final product and really taking it in.

This is cheap at Best Buy, I'm headed there soon to snag The Office Season 2 and Stella on DVD so I may pick this up as well.

- Kirby"

LOL... laying in your bed with the final product and really taking it in hey. Sounds like you lube the thing up and shove it up your ass or something.

Anonymous (September 13, 2006)

Hahaha, another post by WilliamWhatshisface that makes it sound like he knows what he's talking about.

This album was super boring. It would have bummed me out, but I was reading the press releases that were sent out and they all focused on "This album is 74 minutes long!! The songs clock in around 8-14 minutes each!!!" There was nothing saying "The Mars Volta wrecks anal cavities with their aural assault on contemporary music." that any band who likes their album would say. In the end, they knew they wrote a bad album but wanted to take the Walmart approach, "Sure, the quality may be shitty, but you will get 74 minutes of music! That's using the whole CD!! You will get more music for your $10 that if you bought a good album!"

Also, Cedric saying punk rock is limiting shows he's a fucktard. The punk scene was about expression and making cool music. Our punk scene here in Houston isn't limiting, check out some of the bands, all ideas are explored. Maybe the idiots in El Paso don't get that punk is about more than eye shadow and barre chords.

Wow, I would slap anyone who told me that Sparta was superior to The Mars Volta. But then again, it's almost 1am on a weeknight and I'm sitting behind my computer. Still, you have just been electronically bitchslapped.

On the other hand, these guys are gimmicky. Their music reminds me of the glitter you see on the cheeks of little girls. Cedric and Omar were not just what ATDI had going for them, and the superiority of Sparta to TMV demonstrates that.

The tetragrammatron that you're thinking of is indeed the true name of G-d in the Jewish faith. Spelled "Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh," it is said as Adonai and is what is most commonly misconstrued as "Yahweh."

The More You Know *

Anonymous (September 12, 2006)

So if any of you pirates actually bought this, were any of you disappointed by the album art? I mean the booklet.....the cover is cool, but the booklet is all lyrics and nothing else. I just had high expectations for it I guess.

I think Frances had one song that was almost all quiet atmospherics, and while I'm typically a fan of moody drone, it could have been cut completely from the album to its benefit, and if they had replaced it with the title track, which languished as a vinyl 12 inch extra, it would have been much better.

This one is good, the open loose parts are handled better than frances, but consistency isnt always a strength at such song time lengths.

Still a rockin record, and they keep things moving. If I thought records were supposed to 'compete' with other records, I'd dislike it, but they dont, so its pretty good.

Yes. Yes you do. Really gay. You've really got to love plowing the brown furrow. Riding up the chocolate highway. In fact, I hear that's going to be the title of the next record. It's a concept album about what happened when one of their gay burlesque dancer friends OD'd and nearly died.

I broke out in a sweat after making it half way down the first page of Finnegan's Wake, and promptly shut the book. Fuck that shit.

In all honesty, I felt too much of De-Loused was taken up with wankery, so I know there's no way I could ever tolerate this or Frances. It seems way too much like filling up space for the sake of a longer record than because they have anything wortwhile to say.

and obviously I've never read Finnegan's Wake, because I can't even spell it correctly.

Jim

Anonymous (September 12, 2006)

To the guy right underneath me. If the bet was "Dubliners" then I might take it. But no, I doubt this dude has read "Finnigan's Wake." He might have attempted to read it at one point, and even pretended to understand it, but if he had read it, I'm assuming he wouldn't be writing reviews for pitchfork media as a job.

Jim

Anonymous (September 12, 2006)

I am willing to bet 10,000 dollars that the guy below me has never actually read Finnegan's Wake.

Anonymous (September 12, 2006)

The Mars Volta
Amputechture
[GSL/Universal; 2006]
Rating: 3.5

The Mars Volta's piss-soaked indulgence often pushes critics to similarly bombastic, mouth-foaming performances. It's understandable. The boys have created an oeuvre that, while technically adventurous, is more or less a hodgepodge of ADD prog trope noodles. That said, I carefully cross my heart at the news of each release, hoping that approaching these guys with an open mind will unearth the pleasures that make bong-toting college boys and Total Guitar subscribers purr. But hard as I tried (again), Amputechture tested, bent, and eventually broke me: Synths lap, strings weep soppingly, ham-fisted fingers tap, time signatures flash, and the amphetamine Beat poetry...is amphetamine Beat poetry.
Now, I dig indulgence when it's done well (see: Finnegans Wake, that skinny guy who wins all the hot-dog eating contests), and what got me through multiple listens to Frances the Mute was the album's overall ludicrousness, that weirdo King Crimson corn-dogging. I enjoyed some of the vocal lines, and it had an intriguing concept-- characters flesh-out from found objects-- but the endless boogie eventually flatlined. It wasn't good rock music, but it was fun in a beer-helmet sorta way. But unless you do keg stands for a living, party tricks usually only work once. To the band's credit, at least they didn't aim for another classic-rock crapper like Frances's "The Widow"-- if your raison d'√™tre is sitcom-length epics, why plop in that one radio-ready single?

Here, the closest the Mars Volta come to a stadium-sized anthem is opener "Vicarious Atonement", in which slow-drip Led Zeppelin histrionics and drama-queen guitar wanks waddle over space ambiance, modem sounds, piano swirls, and free-jazzercise horns. The effect? Climbing a mountain with a noodling Sam Ash balladeer. (Actually, it's probably John Frusciante, who plays guitar on just about every track here.) Of course, the 7 minute "Been Caught Stealin'"-on-DXM shower ballad could've been trimmed by three minutes, but that's not a bad percentage for these guys.

As is illustrated by the 17-minute "Tetragrammaton". The move from "Vicarious Atonement"'s saxophone bleats and Cedric Bixler-Zavala's mutant whine to the hyperspeed Dream Theater schlep is nice enough: The track's first few minutes show promise, but before long it's veered off into unlistenable, meth-addled Rich Little territory. "Tetragrammaton", of course, is the Hebrew name for God, but seriously, there's no reason to try to squeeze the entire dude into one track. How many scales can a person take? Leave the room, come back, go to sleep, take a walk: They're still at it.

This isn't to say Amputechture is without redemption: "Vermicide" has a couple mellow and pretty guitar parts; actually, though, that's snuffed by the word "sacrosanct," a ricocheting vocal effect, and late-period funk spunk. Heady hand drums, acoustic guitar flumes, and drifty gleams at "Asilos Magdalena"'s opening are promising, but a quivering Cedric gets weepy on us. My guess: Mary Magdalene's pissed at Jesus for not taking her with him. Then I thought of Devendra Banhart for a second, before wiping off my windshield. The religious imagery's knee-deep in each track: "Viscera Eyes" rages about "a crown of maggots" and "the border we're watching." Somewhere Fred Durst nods along with a copy of The Dharma Bums in his back pocket.

The demonizing, idol-worshipping "Day of the Baphomets" opens with and sustains the most energy, but then comes a number of unnecessary shifts, including fun-house vocal effects and wavy gravy Lynchian midget sounds. The song features a legitimately kinetic vocal turn-- "Poachers in your home/ Poachers in your home"-- that echoes Nation of Ulysses, but my finger's still off a few inches.

None of this is surprsing: It's the Mars Volta's third proper album and a blizzard of onanism is expected-- to quite a few people, it'll be highly anticipated. Hell, it even had me interested: This is ex-At the Drive In bassist Paul Hinojos' first studio stint with the band after he started touring with them in 2005. Maybe he'd turn back the clock and force his comrades to look in the mirror and see how far they've strayed off course? Sadly not. Which reminds me: Bixler-Zavala and Volta keyboardist Ikey Owens guest on Mastodon's new Blood Mountain album. Maybe they'll brainwash Atlanta's finest metal band into this kinda bullshit so the world can celebrate the crushing loss of two great bands together.

I just spun this for the first time. Huge fan of Deloused, less so of Frances, and (so far) even less so of this. Not too much stood out, it seemed too long and too self-aware. A few more listens will be the decider really.

Frusciante played guitar but he didnt write anything.... Lopez wrote the whole thing. Frusciante was just some tool that played the parts because they felt he was "worthy"

fuck this band, this is the same recycled shit theyve be repeating from their first EP on. I thought they could have done way better than this. So predictable and monotonious from such talented musicians.

"Aubin's interpretation of how I'll feel even dumber for not getting into this album."

Honestly, I don't fault anyone for not getting into this band. It's overly cerebral, sometimes pretentious and often just plain weird. It's got a certain appeal to me, as do their previous albums, but I'm not evangelizing the Mars Volta by any means.